In Tokyo, no sooner did Trump's plane leave the tarmac than the finance minister declared that "We won't do an FTA".

Asked about this disturbing trend on November 2, Trump's national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, said: "How much does it help to yell about these problems?"

Calling Trump "gullible", he pegged the president as "probably the easiest mark Putin has ever had". Or at least to make an effort not to sound weak and naïve. Russia-U.S. relations, however are not defined by commerce or the relatively limited scope of Northeast Asian regional affairs. On his recently concluded trip to east Asia, he spoke informally to Putin at several points.

I don't believe Trump ever joked about Russian hostility being an outdated relic of the Cold War, as Obama did to Romney prior to the 2012 election.

The president's argument for taking this manifestly preposterous position is that continuing to dwell on Russia's assault on the USA election system will only get in the way of the two nations' cooperation on important matters such as Syria and Iran. "I think he is very insulted by it, which is not a good thing for our country". "And this artificial Democratic hit job gets in the way".

The following dossier on Donald Trump's early years was given to me Monday by a man on a park bench in Lafayette Square. "He said he didn't meddle". Donald told friends he accepted what the girls told him: "She said it's her, not me".

Such a photograph would have been many times more valuable journalistically than the awkward souvenir photos where the leaders strain to link arms in an obligatory show of solidarity. "But I just asked him again and he said he absolutely did not meddle in our election". He did not do what they're saying he did.

REPORTER: Do you believe him?

In an interview with CNN on Sunday, Brennan said he thinks that fear played into Trump's behavior towards Russian Federation, calling him "intimidated" by Putin. This is a contradiction to all the information that our intelligence agencies have amassed. Last January, Trump compared the American intelligence services to those of Nazi Germany.

Yikes. Naturally, President Trump tried to walk back that observation - sort of. This is why top intelligence officials appointed by Trump have confirmed those findings.

"But if they meddled in the election, then he is not necessarily the president of the United States, because it's tainted".

Trump's own CIA DirectorMike Pompeo and DNI Daniel Coats have both defended the assessment that the Kremlin interfered. FBI Director Christopher Wray testified that he had "no reason to doubt the conclusions that the hard-working people who put that together came to".

"Is Trump the guy who should be leading that investigation?", Fallon asked. Trump, in contrast, said he believes Putin and that it is time for us to go forward.